Disclaimer: not mine, never mine, and all I can claim is Maggie…

A/N: wow! Three chapters! Hope everyone reading likes it, because I'm not stopping! This chapter explains a little bit of Maggie's past. Not everything, but just enough to explain her attitude towards people, humans in particular. Enjoy!

-LFK

Halls of Justice, Cells…

Two weeks had passed since Aribeth had left Majandra, promising swift justice and release, and Majandra was losing hope. Food was delivered to her room only once a day, a few crusts of bread and stale ale, and so she spent most of her time sleeping to conserve her energy. As always, dreams came to her restless mind.

Two Hundred Sixty Years earlier…

"Father!" a tiny elfin girl, no more than forty winters old, with tail and horns bounded through the sunlit Nurikabe forest of southern Kara-tûr, navigating the twisting maze of invisible walls and disappearing paths with the ease of a long time inhabitant. "Father! I found the herbs you told me to find!" she skipped across a little brook and then broke into a sprint as she reached the deer path that would lead her directly to the tiny cottage she shared with her father, Brilthor Damar.

For as long as she could remember, she and her father had lived by themselves in the forest, living off the land and in harmony with the other denizens, what the natives called oni and tengu. They only ventured outside of the forest to trade some of the rarer herbs and plants with the nearby village. Otherwise, they kept very much to themselves and avoided contact with any who ventured inside. As far as the girl knew, she and her father were the only elves living in the area, though she was sure there had to be more.

"There you are, Maggie," she smiled broadly as her father, her gentle, caring father, appeared at the door to their home, arms wide in preparation for the fierce hug his daughter gave him. "And you got the herbs, just as I asked!" she ignored how thin he felt beneath her arms, and the slight hitch to his breath as he spoke.

"Yes, father," she replied, "I found them exactly where you said they'd be!"

"You are the best herbs picker ever!" her father exclaimed as they entered their cozy home. "I think I just might have to live with you forever!"

"Don't worry, father," Majandra had replied with childlike innocence shinning in her eyes. "I wasn't going anywhere anyway!"

The cell, present time…

At that moment, Majandra stirred on her small cot, tail lashing once before she settled back down in sleep, a content smile touching her lips as she dreamed of happier times. The corners of her mouth turned down as the vision shifted, and a growl escaped her throat at what she knew would come next.

Two Hundred Years earlier…

"Father!" the fey'ri was no longer a child by elven standards, but a beautiful young woman on the verge of reaching her independence. "Father! Please, where are you?" the forest was choked with black smoke that swamped her senses with ash and heat and pain. In her panic, she ran head-on into one of the invisible blocks that gave the Nurikabe forest its name, falling back and landing hard on her sensitive tail. "Oww, damn it!" she jumped back to her feet and raced as fast as she was able to her home.

When she reached the glade that held their cottage, she nearly fainted from the power of the rage that flowed through her. The house was a smoking ruin and, though there was no sign of her father, the whole area reeked of humans. "FATHER!"

That was the last thing she consciously remembered doing, digging in the ruins of her home, yet others told her of how she'd attacked the nearest village in a fit of raging bloodlust in search of her father. When she'd come to, it was to find the body of her father in her lap while she sat, soaked to her skin with human blood, amidst the ruins of the village, twin daggers that she'd recognized as her father's clutched in her grasp…

"Father!" Majandra jerked awake with his name on her lips and stared wildly about, taking in the by now familiar walls of her cell. "Damn," she muttered as her breathing slowed and her heartbeat calmed, "another dream."

"No," a deep voice chuckled, "definitely not your father, nor a dream, devil's spawn!" Majandra whirled and came face to face with an armed paladin standing in her open doorway.

"What do you want?" she asked, proud that she could keep her voice steady in the face of such an obvious threat. "I'm a prisoner here, and only supposed to be seen by Lady Aribeth. I suggest you leave, quickly and quietly, before the regular guard returns."

"I want something that you demons are well versed in," the blond man didn't show any sign of having heard her, and drew his sword from its sheath. "Revenge!"

Bhaalspawn! Majandra cursed as the man advanced upon her with a mad look in his icy blue eyes. She stood up on the hard surface of her cot and adopted a fighting stance, hands held out like knife blades. I can't kill him, but he can surely kill me! Damn this place to the hells!

"Look," she leapt over the blade as he cut at her legs, twisting in mid-air so that she landed behind the beardless boy. "I don't want to hurt you, but you're leaving me no choice!" she ducked below a strike to her head and winced as a lock of hair floated to the ground beside her.

"Die!" he screamed in reply as he threw himself at her, blade leading. "I will kill you for what you did to my family!"

His family? Majandra thought confusedly as she rolled backwards into the empty hall, dodging the slow moving blade effortlessly. What do I…oh, right. Because I'm a fey'ri. Why did I think things would change when I came west?

"Alright!" she turned on the boy, startling him out of his blind charge with her cold voice. "I have absolutely HAD IT with you people!" she loosed her grip on her boiling rage at the injustice and let her golden eyes bleed red with fury. In a blur of movement, Majandra leapt at the boy and lashed out with her fist, catching him across the jaw and stunning him for a moment.

"HALT!" she stiffened as she heard boots pounding behind her, as well as the creak of crossbows and leather sheaths. It took all her willpower to keep a tight reign on the bloodrage that pounded in her blood and not attack the newcomers. "Don't move, fey'ri! Sir Kayle, are you well?"

"Do not interfere!" the maddened paladin bellowed as he shook off Majandra's blow. "This one is mine!" he charged Majandra once again, murder in his eyes.

She waited for him to come within three paces of her and then exploded into motion. Her foot smashed through his kneecap with a sickening crack, and he fell to his knees with a cry that became choked as her hands struck the pressure points in both arms. "What's wrong, paladin?" she snarled as she grabbed his head by his hair and forced him to look her in her glowing eyes, ignoring his weak struggling. "Are you enjoying your revenge? Your justice for your family? I am!" her grip tightened as she held the whimpering boy still and drew a sharp nail from the corner of his twitching eye to his jaw line.

Suddenly, she heard the crack of a bowstring and pain exploded in her shoulder. "Ahh!" she cried out as she fell away from the fallen paladin and stumbled back, clutching the quivering bolt that had forced its way through her flesh.

"Stop this at once!" Majandra sighed in relief as the strong, female voice rang out in the hallway. All movement from the temple guard stilled and the area was silent but for the whimpers of the paladin as he clutched his knee and the steady drip of blood from Majandra's wound. "Put your weapons away!"

"Yes, Milady," the men rumbled as they lowered their bows and sheathed their swords. Aribeth took in the scene with a completely calm expression and then, to everyone's surprise, walked past the wounded paladin on the floor and strode to the fey'ri's side.

"Here," she said gently, refusing to flinch as the girl whirled on her with blazing red eyes. "Let me help you."

"But, my lady!" the paladin shouted as he watched the tell tale glow of Tyr's healing magic flowed from the lady paladin and into the injured girl.

"But nothing, Kayle," she returned coolly as she turned back to him, crossbow bolt clasped in her right hand. "In what way was it honorable to attack an unarmed prisoner, and a woman a that?"

"She's just a demon bitch," he muttered rebelliously as two of his fellows hauled him to his feet, and a cleric bent down to examine his knee.

"No," Aribeth said, stopping the healer in her tracks. "Leave his wound as it is."

"What?" Kayle exclaimed.

"Kayle Smithson, I strip you of your position within this house of justice. You walk out of this place with your pride, but leave your honor and title at the alter of our Lord." Aribeth intoned the ritual dismissal with a tinge of sadness in her eyes, but steel in her voice. "Leave this place, now."

"Fine," Kayle jerked out of the grip of the men holding him up and began limping out of the building. "I shall leave, but you haven't heard the last of me, demon!"

Majandra, held up by Aribeth's strong sword arm, watched emotionlessly as her attacker left the temple, feeling a mix of disappointment and relief from the outcome of the short fight. Being on the verge of killing and then having to stop was nearly painful to all Survivors. Once the decision had been made, the commitment to take a life, pulling back was agonizingly difficult. Her tail lashed in anger, but she watched the men file out wordlessly.

"I apologize for what has happened here," Aribeth turned to her a moment later with a smile after dismissing the remaining guardsmen and clergy. "It seems that justice has become harder and harder to determine in these trying days."

"Nothing really changes," Majandra replied neutrally as she stepped away from the paladin and flexed her shoulders. Small wounds like those received by bows and the like regenerated quickly, thanks to her demon blood. Even the wound that had landed her in the temple to begin with would have healed in a short amount of time had she not been starving and half-dead. "Now," she continued, ignoring Aribeth's measuring gaze. "Has Lord Nasher rescinded his decision about this blasted bracelet?"

"To a point," Aribeth replied promptly as she began walking. Majandra fell in beside her, ignoring the aching emptiness in her stomach. She had been in the cell for two weeks, near as she could tell, and they had only given her food once daily. "Lord Nasher won't remove the bracelet, but has decided to put you on a probation of sorts."

"What kind of probation," Majandra asked suspiciously, "I thought that was the whole point of my imprisonment here!"

"Well, true, but thus is my Lord's will." Aribeth replied uneasily, "you will be given your weapons and your freedom, but there is one requirement."

"And that would be?" Majandra replied, feeling her patience slip away by the second. "At this point, I couldn't care less whether this city burned. I just want to leave."

"That's just it," Aribeth continued. "You cannot leave Neverwinter. You are to enroll in the Academy of Heroes here in the city, and work with the other adventurers to find a cure for this plague."

"You're kidding me." Majandra stopped abruptly and glared at the elven woman. "You have got me trapped here nearly as well as if you had caught me with a geas! Is it not enough that I tell you what you wish to know about the curse?"

"That is part of the deal as well." Aribeth returned her glare with a rather helpless smile. They were standing in the temple antechamber now, only a few paces from the gleaming alter to Tyr. "I argued your case as best I was able, Majandra, but I'm afraid you must follow Lord Nasher's will in this."

"I see." Majandra stalked towards the wide entranceway with the anger of a cheated predator, complete with lashing tail. "When do you want me to report to the academy?"

"You are to go there immediately," Aribeth replied. "You will receive quarters, your belongings, as well as parchment and quill to record your information. There will be a guard posted outside your door at all times as well, and he will take your report."

"Very well," Majandra sighed, releasing her anger, and bowed low to the woman. "I will report at once. And, Lady Aribeth," she paused at the door and glanced back at the elven paladin. "I understand, truly, I do, and I respect you. Perhaps we will have a chance to work together." And with that, the fey'ri disappeared into the night, blending into the darkness like a shadow.

A/N: Like? Don't like? TELL ME! I'm writing this for various reasons, but the top of my list is FOR YOU! Let me know how I'm doing, and this story can only get better! Thanks for reading, now click that little blue button in the corner…

-LFK